Can’t do much about existing users of TikTok: MeitY

MeitY and Department of Telecommunications officials appear to be passing the buck to each other.

NEW DELHI: After banning fresh downloads of the controversial app TikTok, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) says it can do little about existing users.

The ministry and the Department of Telecommunications appear to be passing the buck to each other, with MeitY saying DoT needs to take further action in the matter and DoT officials claiming it hasn’t received any such request from the ministry, which it says is handling the issue.

“We have followed the instructions of the high court, with which both Google and Apple have complied. However, there is no way we can do anything about existing mobile app users. That matter is completely with the telecom service providers and the DoT will need to take up the matter with them,” a senior MeitY official told ET.

“We haven’t yet issued any direction regarding TikTok to the telecom service providers – as per our understanding, MeitY is handling the issue,” a senior DoT official told ET. Officials at the company said over 120 million users in India continue to use the app. Another DoT official said it was technically not possible to ban an app currently in usage.

“We encountered a similar situation with another app, Telegram, last year when the Ministry of Home Affairs had flagged grave security concerns of this app being used by terror groups,” said the official.

He added that even then, telecom service providers had expressed their inability to stop usage of an app.

“Firstly, there isn’t one single URL. If we shut down one URL, then it can be routed through another URL and finally they can hop from one cloud to another,” explained the second official, elaborating on how Russia continues to struggle with banning Telegram because of these technical issues.